Apparatus and method for unloading lumber and the like



Jan. 5, 1954 c. s. LORIMER 2,665,019

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR UNLOADING LUMBER AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 17,1949 5 Shets-Sheet 1 a1 30 Q a1 r I I v y; 54

' INVENTOR 58- 29 5 52 3O 33 $M5f ATTORN EYS C. S. LORIMER Jan. 5, 1954APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR UNLOADING LUMBER AND THE LIKE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Aug. 17, 1949 INVENTOR w wibw ATTORNEYS Jan. 5, 1954 c, s, LORIMER2,665,019

APPARATUS-AND METHOD FOR UNLOADING LUMBER AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 17,1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS 1954 c. s. LORIMER 2,665,019

APPARATUS AND METHOD F OR UNLOADING LUMBER AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 17,1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 ATTCSRN EYS Jan. 5, 1954 Q s LoRlMER 2,665,019

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR UNLOADING LUMBER AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 17,1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ig-I2 INVENTOR' QMMW w? Y I I 7O ATTORNEYSPatented Jan. 5, 1954 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR UNLOADING LUMBER AND THELIKE 7 Collins S. Lorimer, Urbana, Ohio Application August 17, 1949,Serial No. 110,758

7 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus and a method for use with lift forktrucks to load or unload an elongated load such as a stack or bundle oflumber by endwise movement thereof.

The invention has particular application to conditions such as areinvolved in handling lumber in yards or sheds wherein it is desired tostack the lumber with one end thereof outermost, for example in bins ordecks or simply in piles. When lumber is stored in this fashion, it isreadily piled or unpiled by hand, but this is a laborious and timeconsuming operation. On the other hand, since lumber is ordinarilystored in comparatively long pieces, when it is handled by a lift forktruck, the fork has to be positioned near the center of the load forproper balance, and the truck can accordingly move such a load onlygenerally transversely of its length. As a result, if it is desired tounload a pile standing between two or more other piles with only an endexposed, there is no convenient way to gain access to the center of thedesire pile with a conventional lift fork truck.

The lumber may be handled in individual pieces but it is foundconvenient and economical to gather the pieces into bundles ofconvenient size and then to band the bundles with steel tape.

This not only simplifies the further handling. of

the lumber, but it provides for keeping the lumber in better conditionand with, less tendency for warpage, breakage and the like. Such bundlesare relatively heavy and bulky, and it'is' important to provide for theproper handling} will enable the truck to load or unload a stack.

of lumber or other elongated load by endwise movement of the loadwithout manual handling thereof by the operator and without impairingthe utility of the truck for handling loads of other sizes and shapes.In accordance with the invention, rollers are provided on the forks inposition to receive and support the load for normal lifting and carryingby the truck. These rollers are fitted with square ends or othersuitable connections for a crank or other drive element to provide forrotation of the rollers and resulting endwise movement of the loadtransversely of the forks for loading or unloading, suitable locks beingprovided to prevent rotation of the rollers except when desired by theoperator. In addition, the forks are equipped with a friction bar orother suitable projection located forwardly of the rollers in positionfor frictional engagement with the underside ofthe load when the latteris supported on the ground or pile, such as a bundle of lumber in astack, and when the fork is elevated with this projection in position toengage and raise the end of the load, the latter can then be readilypushed or pulled by moving the truck as desired to complete theunloading operation or to initiate loading.

One'of the principal objects of the present invention is to provideapparatus and a method of this character for use in conjunction with alift fork truck to handle a stack of lumber or similarly elongated loadsafely and conveniently, and another object to provide such apparatus inthe form of a simple mechanism for attachment to the forks of aconventional lift fork truck which does not impair the utility of thetruck for other lifting and carrying operations and which can be readilyremoved if desired.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description, the accompanying drawings and the appendedclaims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a lift fork truck equipped with a lumberhandling attachment in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in plan and partly in section on the line 2-2 ofFig. 3 showing the forks of the truck of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the forks and supporting frame therefor;-

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front end view on a larger scale of one of theforks and the parts mounted thereon;

Fig. 5 is a top View of the same fragment shown in Fig. 4 with portionsbroken away and in section to illustrate details of internalconstruction and showing the locking member for the roller in lockedposition;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the locking member inunlocked position;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary perspective View of the notched bar extendingacross the forward ends of the forks;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the truck of Fig. 1 showing the truck inthe operation of carrying a bundle of lumber into position for unloadingon a stack;

Figs. 9, 10 and 11 are perspective views illustrating progressive stagesin the unloading operation.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of lift forks provided with a somewhatdifferent construction of the attachment;

Fig. 13 is a view partly in plan and partly broken away in horizontalsection showing the right-hand front corner of the attachment; and

Fig. 14 is a front elevation of the same corner of the attachment.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment ofthe invention, Fig. 1 shows a lift fork truck of conventional designindicated generally'by the reference character I5. The forwardlyextending lift forks include upwardly projecting portions 2| supportedon a frame 22 adapted to be raised and loweredof the lift forks 20 bymeans of bracketsSl, 32-

and 33, which are bolted to the forks and are so arranged as to locatethe upper surfaces of' rollers 3! above the upper surfaces of the forksand thus in position for directly receiving and supporting a load, thebrackets 3| and 32 being identical and the brackets 33 at the front endsof the forks being of somewhat different construction as describedhereinafter. The forward roller ofeach pair is provided with a square orotherwise noncircular'projecting endv portion 34 to form a drivingconnection for a crank 35 or other driving element. The two rollers 29and 30 of each pair are also provided with a driving interconnection,the shaft at the rearward end of the forward roller 30 being inserted inthe forward end of the rearward roller 29 of the pair and being pinnedthereto as indicated at 36 in Fig. 2 so that they turn together. Twoadditional rollers 31 are secured by brackets 38 to the frame 22 and toframeextension 25, the rollers 36 extending upwardly at substantiallyright angles to rollers 30 to act as guides, for a load being loaded onto the forks. or unloaded therefrom. e

Each pair of rollers 29-30 is provided. with a releasable looking orlatching mechanism illustrated in detail in Figs. 4 to 6. The forwardend of the forward roller 30 is formedwitha plurality of angularlyspaced notches Each bracket 33 is formed with a bore 42. for receiving areciprocable locking pin having an enlarged end It will thus be seenthat when the member 44 is in the position shown in Fig.5, the spring 46will be free to urge the locking pin into locking position, thuspositively retaining the adjacent roller 30 against rotation to, preventthe possibility of undesired shifting of a load supportedthereon. Whenthe member 41 is pulled out to the position shown in Fig.6, the lockingpin will be retracted against spring 46' to release the rollers 30 forfree rotation, bushings 49 being: provided in brackets 3I-33 to assurefreerotation. I [A A plate or bar 50 'issecured by bolts 5 in holes 52to the ends of forks 20 and is formed with an upturned portion 53 havinga sharpened and notched upper edge 55. This sharpened portion of the bar50 is thus adapted for frictional engagement independently of rollers29-30 with the underside of a load, satisfactory results having beenobtained with the parts so proportioned that the sharpened edge 55 is insubstantially the same plane above the upper surface of forks 20 as theuppermost portion of rollers 29-30. When the lift truck is used forother purposes the friction bar may be simply lifted away from the forksand the truck used in the ordinary way. 7

Figs; 8 to 11 show the operation of a lift fork truck in accordance withthe invention for loading or placing one or more bundles of lumber byendwise movement on to a pile. Fig. 8 shows thetruck IS with the loadbalanced at its center and supported on the forks in elevated positionabove the pile 6| on which the load is to be placed. As shown, the loadcomprises several bundles of boards supported in vertically spacedrelation with each other by means of spacers 62, the lower two bundleseach being shown as formed of stacked boards tied together by means ofmetal straps 63 and the top bundle comprising loosely stacked boards. Aspointed out, while this load is being picked up and transported on thetruck, the rollers 29-30 are locked to hold the load against undesiredshifting.

To initiate the unloading operation, theload is lined up endwise withthe pile on which it is to be placed, and a separate roller 65 is placedon the outer end of the pile as shown in Fig. 8. The forks are lowereduntil the load is just above the level'of roller 65, and the rollers 30are then unlocked and' one of them is cranked as illustrated in Fig. 9to cause the load to move transversely of the forks and endwise of thepile until its leading end overhangs the roller 65. The weight of theload on the rollers 29-30 is sufficient'to produce this movement, andthe forks are then further lowered until the leading end' of the load isresting on the roller 65.

After the load has thus been moved into supthe rollers 29-30 nearest thepile, or at least until themaJor proportion of the load has beentransferred' to the pile, the rollers 31 serving to guide the loadduring this movement and prevent undesirable friction against theupright parts of the forksor the frame 22. The truck is then moved awayand brought into endwise relationwith the load as shown in Fig. 10, withthe bar 50 under the outer end of the load, the standard 23 preferablybeing tilted back during this step to elevate bar 50 above rollers 30for working clearance. The forks are then raised until the notched edge55 of bar 50 engages" and raises the end of the load, after which thetruck is moved forward to push the load fully on to the pile. Next theforks. are raised still further as'shown in Fig. 11 until the roller 65is'freeand can be removed, and with the load in this position, spacers66 are placed between the top of the pile and'the load. Finall the forksare againlowered to deposit the load on the spacers 66, which are ofsufficient height to provide clearance for removing the bar 50.

It will accordingly be seen that the present invention provides a simpleattachment for the forks-of'a' conventional lift fork truck whichenables'the truck to handle a stack of'lumber or oth'erelongated loadand to unload such by endwise movement on to a pile. Furthermore, thisattachment does not affect the operation of the truck for handling otherloads, but at the same time it can be readily removed if desired bysimply unbolting the brackets 3 I, 32 and 38 and the bolts 5| Thebundles of lumber can be removed from the pile with a lift fork truck byfollowing the reverse sequence of operations. That is to say, the bar 59can be inserted between bundles and the forks raised to elevate theouter end of the bundles sufficiently for removal of the spacers 66 andreplacement of the roller 65. The load can then be lowered on to theroller 65 and pulled out in the same manner as described in connectionwith Fig. for pushing the load into position, and after a suiiicientpart of the load has been pulled out, the bundles can then be crankedback on the forks and carried away.

Figs. 12 to 14 show a somewhat different construction of attachmentwhich operates in a similar manner to that just described. The liftforks l0 correspond to the forks 20 of the truck l5, and the verticallyarranged rollers H similarly correspond to the rollers 31 described inconnection with Figs. 1 to 11. The remainder of the attachment includesa generally rectangular frame composed of cross bars 15 and 16 securedtogether by means of braces 11 as shown. This frame is removably securedto the forks in by means of a plurality of shouldered bolts 18 threadedinto tapped bores in the upper surface of the lift forks iii. A roller80 is journaled in the ends of the bars '45 and F6 for operationsimilarly to the rollers 29 and so as described, the supporting shafts8! of these rollers being shown as supported in roller bearings 82 inthe ends of the bars.

The releasable lock for holding the rollers 80 against rotation includesa ratchet wheel 85 pinned to the outer end of each shaft 8| adjacent thesquared portion 86 of the shaft which receives a crank or other drivingmember. Cooperating with each ratchet wheel 85 is a bar 90 slotted toreceive mounting bolts 9| which are set into the front face of bar 15 tosupport the bar 9|] for sliding movement. The outer end of each bar 90is formed with a projection 95 adapted to engage between the teeth ofthe ratchet wheel 85, and the inner surface of the bar 90 is hollowed toreceive a spring 96 bearing against one of bolts 9| in position to urgethe bar 90 outwardly and into engagement with the ratchet wheel. A chainor cord 99 connects the inner ends of the bars 90 to provide for readilpulling both bars out of looking engagement with their associatedratchet wheels 85 and thus to release the rollers 80 for free rotation.

A friction bar Hill is bolted to the bar 15 at lfll and is provided withan upturned front edge having suitable teeth I02 for operation in thesame manner as described in connection with the bar 50. It willaccordingly be seen that this attachment operates in essentially thesame manner as described in connection with Figs. 1 to 11, it beingmerely necessary that the operator pull on chain as to release therollers during the step of cranking the load 01f of or on to the forks.7

While the form of apparatus herein described constitutes a preferredembodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the inventionis not limited to this precise form of apparatus, and that changes maybe made therein without departing from the scope of the invention whichis defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for use in combination with a lift fork truck for loadingor unloading an elongated load by endwise movement thereof, comprising aplurality of rollers supported on the forks of said truck in upwardlyspaced and generally parallel relation with said forks to receive theload thereon, releasable means for locking said rollers againstrotation, means for rotating at least one of said rollers to causemovement of said load transversely of said forks, bar means having aserrated portion, means for securing said bar means to the ends of saidforks forwardly of said rollers and with said serrated portion thereofuppermost in position for frictional engagement with the underside of aload, and guide members having a relatively low coefiicient of frictionsupported on said forks in generally upright and perpendicular relationwith said rollers to guide the load during said transverse movementthereof.

2. The method of loading an elongated load into a confined space bymeans of a lift fork truck which comprises the steps of carrying saidload into endwise relation with said space on the forks of said truck,eifecting endwise movement of said load transversely of said forks untilthe leading end of said load overhangs said space while said load isstill supported on said forks, positioning a roller below the leadingend of said load, lowering said forks until the leading end of said loadis supported on said roller, moving said load transversely of said forksuntil the major portion of said load is within said space, thenreleasing said forks from said load, bringing said forks intoendwiserelation with said load, raising said forks to elevate the trailing endof said load, pushing said load fully into said space, and finallyelevating the trailing end of said load suificiently to effect removalof said roller and replacement thereof with a spacer.

3. The method of loading an elongated load by means of a lift fork truckwhich comprises the steps of supporting said load on rollers carried bythe forks of said truck and substantially parallel with said forks,carrying said load into endwise relation with the space into which saidload is to be unloaded, rotating one of said rollers to cause endwisemovement of said load transversely of said forks until the leading endof said load overhangs said space while said load is still supported onsaid forks, positioning a free roller below'the leading end of saidload, lowering said forks until the leading end of said load issupported on said free roller, again rotating said roller on said forksto cause further movement of said load transversely of said forks untilthe major portion thereof is in said space, then releasing said forksfrom said load, moving said forks to a position below the trailing endof said load, raising said forks to elevate said trailing end of saidload, pushing said load with said forks fully into said space, elevatingthe trailing end of said load with said forks sufficiently to efiectremoval of said free roller and replacement thereof with spacers, andfinally lowering said load onto said spacers and then disengaging andremoving said forks therefrom,

4. Apparatus for attachment to the forks of a fork lift truck forhandling a heavy load in the form of elongated material such as lumberor the like having a length substantially greater than the spacing ofsaid forks and adapted to be placed in and removed from a pile in thelengthwise direction thereof which comprises a pair of rollers, meansfor mounting said rollers substantially parallel with said forks andwith the upper surfacesxthereof projecting above: the level 'of said:forkszhto .receiveivsaid tloadi'thereom means for. fixing esaid; rollersagainst .:turning 11 with a 1 load:

balanced'xthereonzwith its ends overhanging'said rollers atbOtIFSldGSYOf saidafo'rksforliftingand transportation :of saidoload :onsaid: :lift truck, meanslcfor imparting; torque power to said rollers tocause-the loadlthereon to traveliinthe direction.- of .thelength-'thereof and transversely of said: forksrwhile lone. endzoftheload is supported .on theLpiIe, and loadi-engag-ing means fixed'atthe outer ends of saidforks havingsiproject-ionslon the surfaceforengagingsaid load. with: a positive action following insertion of said:forks ."beneath one 'end of: saidloadnwith said forkstex-tendingthegeneral direction of theilength of said-load andn'of said. pile toeifect'thez-pushingin and to initiatethei'drawingout ofsaidload-by.movementof said lifttrucks 1 5. Apparatus as defined:in claim .4including means for .detachably fixingesaid [load engaging meansto saidforksproviding:forlready removal and. replacement tthereof. 1v

6. Apparatus'for attachment to the forks of a fork lift truckforhandlinga: heavyvloadin the form -:ofelongatedmaterialsuch as lumber or thelikehaving aHIength substantially greater than the spacing of said forksand-adapted to be placed in and removed from a pile in the lengthwisedirectionthereof which comprises a pair of rollers, means for mountingsaid rollers substantially parallel with said forks and with the uppersurfaces-thereof projecting above-the level of said forks to receive,said load thereon, means for fixing said-rollers against turning with aload balanced thereon with its ends. overhanging said rollers atbothsides of said forks for lifting and transportation of said load on saidlift truck, means for imparting torque power to said rollers to causethe load thereon to travel in the direction of the length thereof andtransversely of said forks while one-end of the load is supported on thepile, and load engaging means fixed at the outer ends of said forks insubstantially the plane of the upper surface .of said rollers and havingprojections on the surfaoeto be raised along with the raising of saidforks into positive engagement under the opposite end of said load toeffect the pushing in and to initiate the drawing out of said load withsaid forks extending in the general direction of the lengthof said loadand of said pile.

7. Apparatus for attachment to the'forks of. a forklift truck forhandling a heavy load in the form of" elongated material such aslumberor the like havinga length substantially greater than the-spacingof said forks and adapted-to be placed in and vremoved from a pile inthe lengthwise direction thereof which-comprises a pair of rollers,means for mounting saidrollers substantially parallel'withsaid forks andwith the upper surfaces thereof projecting abovethe level of said forksto receive saidaload thereon, means for fixing said rollers againstturning 'with a load balanced thereon with its ends overhanging saidrollers at both sidesflof said forks-for lifting and transportation ofsaid'load on 'said lift truck, means for imparting torque power tosaid'rollers to cause the load thereon to travel-in the direction of thelength thereof and transverselyof said forkswhile-one end of the load issupported on the pile, additional rollers located at the inner ends ofsaidiforks and extending upwardly therefrom atisubstantially rightangles to said load receiving rollers for adistance'of the order of thelength of. said :lo'adireceivingi rollers for guiding the adjacent sideof said load over a substantial References Cited theifile Of this patentUNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,052,388" Streich -Feb. 4, 19131,105,631 Drain Aug. 4, 1914 1,124,178 Schroeder Jan. 5, 1915- 1,443,749Knerr Jan, 30, 1923 1,451,773 Hesoock Apr. 17, 1923- 1,860,222 BillingsMay 24, 1932 1,931,484 Bosserdet et al. Oct. 24, 1933 2,388,458 AlfonteNov. 6, 1945 2,394,692 Isler Feb. 12, 1946 2,394,693 Golrick Feb. 12,1946 2,412,155 Jessen Dec. 3, 1946 2,432,182 Turner Dec. 9, 19472,504,947 Grange Apr. 18, 1950 2,574,045 Lapham' lvNov; 6, 19512,584,240 Stewart -lFeb. 5,1952

